Flowchart: Should You Bail?

Sometimes things don’t go quite as planned. For whatever reason, you may find yourself in a situation where you’re considering cutting your losses and getting off the wall or backing down from that summit. While this is usually the safest bet, it’s also the least fun, and you may have to leave behind gear in the process. Here’s how to make the call.

Note: This guide can’t cover every situation (the summit has free pizza [don’t bail], new episode of “Game of Thrones” is on in an hour [bail], climbing partner has terrible gas [complain, but keep climbing], etc.,) so develop and use your own good judgment.